Editing Historical Records

Citation

Day, A. (2002), "Editing Historical Records", Library Review, Vol. 51 No. 1, pp. 45-59. https://doi.org/10.1108/lr.2002.51.1.45.8

Drawing especially on his experience in editing the Portsmouth Record Series over a period exceeding 30 years, Professor Harvey’s purpose here is to examine the underlying principles of editing historical records and other documents, and to stress the need for erudition, intellectual rigour, and consistency when preparing such material for publication. Above all, editors must keep constantly in mind that these publications will be mined over and over again by academic and popular historians, amateurs and professionals alike, relying on them for their sources and references. If an editor gets it wrong, then it is likely that subsequent researchers will get it wrong, too. He has no startling rules of editing to unveil other than to exhort editors of historical records to keep fast to three cardinal precepts: to be accurate; to say what you are going to do and do it; and to give full references to the document and describe it. These three fundamentals obviously apply also to researchers.

Harvey divides his book into six tersely titled chapters. The kernel of the first, “The rationale”, is contained in his remarks on what stance the editor should adopt in editing historical records – should it be the historian’s or the archivist’s – and plumps unequivocally for the latter:

The editor of historical records is likely to be an historian, but must try to forget all the historical training that concentrates on selection of facts and their relevance to any particular topic or field of enquiry, and should instead adopt the outlook of the archivist, with the task of simply making facts available without questioning why or to whom these facts may be useful. Indeed, the editor is an archivist rather than an historian, for the edition makes available the raw material for research, just as the archivist makes available the documents themselves.

Chapter 2, “The form”, deliberates on what type of record to publish with anything relevant to family history; for example, parish registers, probate records and health‐tax and census returns of prime importance, but others like cartularies, archdeaconry visitations and county maps always in demand. Other matters considered include editors’ tribulations, choosing editors who have a reasonable expectation of being able to devote sufficient time to whatever is in hand, the strategy of selecting appropriate projects, the potential of electronic editions, and the perils of translation. This last aspect is neatly summed up by the maxim “translation will reach the widest possible public – the specialists can look after themselves”.

The third chapter, “The text”, homes in on accuracy, the most important of the three essential editorial virtues. A horrendous cautionary tale is told of the testing exercise new staff were given at the Department of Manuscripts, in the British Museum, in the 1950s. They were required to calendar 100 mediaeval deeds from the Additional Charters, writing the catalogue entry for each, and being allowed only one mistake on pain of being forced to calendar the whole batch until it was correct. The techniques required in achieving total accuracy, the question of normalizing punctuation to standard modern practice, the thorny question of abbreviations, and the special characteristics of calendars, are also included here, illustrated with facsimile documents, and enlivened with informative anecdotes.

Two chapters on visual and intellectual presentation offer the same combination of incisive advice on best practice, how to avoid difficulties, always with authoritative examples, on external presentation, the archival and historical setting, the appendices, and the glossary. The final chapter, “The index”, will be of special interest and delight to practitioners in that arcane scientific field. Harvey does not exactly wear his erudition lightly, but his own superb presentation, choice of topic, and selection of examples, carries the reader along on a high tide of transferred learning and enthusiasm. First rate stuff from beginning to end.